This trick is for WinXP. I haven’t tried other versions.

Occasionally, we get customers that don’t have Windows CD’s. Some never had them, and some have imaginative stories as to whose fault it is they don’t.

These days most computers have the license key on a sticker on the computer itself, so that bit is (usually) covered. If it’s not on there, then at least WRITE IT ON THERE when you get the machine. A CD marker or a face down sticker might work.

But an OEM license doesn’t work with a non-OEM CD. So just plonking any windows CD in the CD-player won’t work. So what to do?

You could try finding a Fujitsu Siemens owner with the same windows version as you have (home or professional). The recovery CD doesn’t have any drivers on it, and will accept your own license key.

Hopefully some above average end user will appreciate this tip from the trenches…

If you’ve got a qmail server with a large number of users spread out over hundreds of domains, how will you figure out how many users you have? I don’t know of any official way, but there are ways to guesstimate.

Let’s say you’re using vpopmail. Let’s say there’s a file called lastauth - telling you when each user last checked e-mail and from what IP address.

Then you could get a guesstimate of the number of users by doing this:
find /home/vpopmail/domains | grep lastauth > yourfile

This will take quite a while, if you’ve got many users.

Then check number of lines in that file, by typing:
wc -l yourfile

Finally remove yourfile

And no, I don’t provide support on this. This is for qmail admins, not regular users.

I need a shower. Upgrading the processor can get fairly physical, if said processor is of the Penitum III, Slot 1 variety, and you need to change the heatsink. Word to the wise, don’t give up even if the screws don’t pop off right away. You may need to use some force…

I needed to upgrade the bios to get the new processor to take (Pentium II 400 HMz is a bit slow with SimplyMepis, a Pentium III 600 would hopefully mean a performance boost, and the new processor was a spare part…), and had Linux on the machine. Which means the bios upgrade was the wrong operating system. No problem, just boot from a win95 or thereabouts boot floppy, then do the upgrade from a floppy.

But of course, I started the computer thinking the board would autodetect the new processor. Luckily I saw it didn’t have the right frequency and powered down to read the motherboard manual. After changing some dipswitches, I was good to go.

The intended user is reading newspapers right now, and is confirming that the machine is faster. BTW, a good idea for “newspaper reader users” is to have all their links on their browser’s home page. Less stuff to learn in the beginning. And a few icons on an uncluttered desktop for the one or two programs they use, easily marked (Internet browser is better than Firefox or Internet Explorer. Write Letter is better than Word or Text Editor).

Mission accomplished.

I have a tiny laptop that’s too old for any other windows edition than win98.

Problem is I never got any wlan card to work on it. Finally I was desperate enough to try alternate solutions (who wants to lug 3 kg around when you could lug less than 1 kg?). Here’s something that might work for you if you’re in the same predicament. Just remember you’re doing this at your own risk.

This relates to machines with Windows 98 first edition. The version of Ndis.vxd changed from first edition to Win98SE. The card requires the version that came with Windows 98 Second Edition.

To fix (and it might break something else, so beware), download the right language file from this page:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q243199/

Then save it to some location, open a dos prompt and type:
243199us8.exe /c /t:a:\

Change folder to the one you’ve got the file in (cd nameoffolder, cd .. to go up a notch etc). Replace the file name here with your language version. The /t is the location it zips the files out to. Right here it’s set to the floppy drive, but it could easily be c:\drivers\ or something else.

Then the safe way is probably to do as described in this newsgroup thread, but I simply renamed the old Ndis.vxd in thec:\windows\system\ folder, and pasted the new version in. It worked for me, but I haven’t tried a second time, so no guarantees.

All of this was done after the card was installed, and I found a yellow exclamation mark in the hardware list, and found the driver complained about Ndis.vxd and Ntkern.vxd. Replacing the first file was enough to make it work.

I’d actually love to install Linux on it instead. Damn Small Linux would be about right, if I could get the wlan card to work on it? But I’ll leave that for another day.